John 4:27-38

27 Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”28 The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people,29 “Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?”30 They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.31 In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”32 Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”33 The disciples asked each other, “Has someone brought him food?”34 Jesus said to them, “I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work.35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then it’s time for harvest’? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest.36 Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together.37 This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests.38 I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.”

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All the readings af rm God’s benevolent care of those who place their well-being in God’s hands. While imperishable, God’s love can be frustrated by human pride and faithlessness. Water is an important symbol of God’s sustaining grace. In Exodus 17 the Israelites’ dependence on water becomes a statement about their dependence on God. The manner in which they obtain their water stands as commentary on human pride and arrogance. The psalm recounts this episode as a means of warning the people against the kind of obstinacy that impedes grace. John 4 focuses on the full actualization of God’s love in Jesus Christ through the “living water.” Paul speaks of God’s love being “poured into our hearts,” a grace that comes in the death and life of Jesus Christ.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Exodus 17:1-7. When have you complained to God about a situation, only to discover God had already begun to forge a way through?
• Read Psalm 95. How does weekly worship allow you to hear God’s voice? How do you testify to God’s goodness?
• Read Romans 5:1-11. Reflect on a time when your suffering produced endurance and ultimately character.
• Read John 4:5-42. How do the words of Paul to Timothy about a worker “who correctly handles the word of truth” serve as a bridge between the “truth hurts” and the “truth will set you free”?

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"When I became a parent, I struggled to find God within the chaotic world where I now lived. I was used to contemplative prayer, to silence and service and listening for God’s still, small voice in quiet, hidden spaces. Suddenly none of my life felt quiet or hidden – it was all loud, messy, and exposed." Discover more.

—Lauren Burdette

Author of This Life That Is Ours: Motherhood As Spiritual Practice (Upper Room Books, 2019).